February 9, 2008: Vol. 31, No. 6

A good kiss is unforgettable, and to prove it, Lori Baker and David E. Brown are displaying 76 photographs of kisses from their personal collections at Williamsburg’s City Reliquary now through March 31.

Baker and Brown, who live in Carroll Gardens, are committed amateur photographers. When they met, they discovered they were drawn to the strange allure of vernacular, or found, photographs.

Looking through their collections, they found a variety of photos with kissing as the subject, and decided to develop a collection that evolved into their first show.

“We would go into junk stores,” said Baker, “and spend hours sorting through bins of photos, hoping to come across a kissing photo. It was like panning for gold.”

The photos in the exhibition span the 20th century, the majority hailing from 1930s to the ’60s. The photos include a couple kissing at a lake, an older couple smooching — while the woman holds a cigarette in her hand, and a man holding and bussing his pregnant wife.

“This exhibit is a new and strange thing,” added Baker. “It’s great, but my collections all feel so personal. There’s a vulnerability in showing these to the world.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper